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Contrary to Popular Belief: Well, from what I've heard, the children start training at a young age so they're as experienced as they can be when they volunteer. On Hunger Games wiki it states that Careers have "prepared and trained since birth". And you know what I got from that...


Strutting with the cocky arrogance of a true Career, ignoring the applause from the streets of District 2 as she went into the Tribute training center (they always honored the trainers/trainees on Reaping Day), Piper felt strangely calm. She would volunteer for the biggest Hunger Games there might ever be. She would avenge Tallulah and she'd bring more honor onto District 2's already-honorable Hunger Games reputation.

"Hello, Piper." the guard standing at the elevator said. "Are you volunteering this year?"

"Hello back, Bryson. And yes, I will be volunteering this year." Piper said.

"That's good. We need some honorable fighters in these Games. We mustn't have a repeat of last year." the guard shuddered. "The girly was a mere bloodbath casualty from the weakling from 6, and the boy, oh, that boy went cannibalistic. Disgraceful! Definitely wasn't the best year for District 2. We must send fighters into the arena to regain lost pride!"

"I'm going to do more than regain District 2's lost pride, Bryson." Piper said coldly.

Bryson knew about her wanting to avenge the District 4 girl- a lot of people did. Plenty thought she was slightly off. Maybe she was, if more people knew the whole story. Her friends, of course, knew it all, and they thought her idea for revenge was perfectly sane.

Strutting into the elevator, she leaned back and sighed. Just before the elevator closed, a boy named Miles Halifax walked in. "Hey, Piper." he said.

"Hello, Miles." Piper replied.

"Rumor's got it you'll be coming in with me," Miles grinned. "Can you confirm these rumors?"

"Yes, I can. With so many tributes being allowed in these Games, a lot of eighteen-year-olds will come in." Piper said.

"Well, I don't know how this is gonna turn out. We're all so tight- us Careers!" Miles sighed.

"We'll deal." Piper said icily.

"You've got to be kidding. You know better than anyone how it's like to lose someone you love." He regretted those words as soon as they came out of his mouth. "Oh, crud... Piper, please forgive me about that..."

Too late. Piper, being freakishly sensitive over that issue and having Career strength, she punched. Hard.

Blood gushed out of Miles's nose. "Geez, Piper!" he clutched his nose. "There's no making friends with you, now, is there?"

"You should know better, Miles." she said coldly. "Moron." she didn't regret what she'd just done one bit.

The elevator opened and both of them stomped out, Miles's t-shirt now stained red. He marched over to the first-aid section, because there are injuries in this building, you know.

Piper went up to a boxing bag and began punching it. "Miles is an idiot. Mason Hesson is a..." she listed a lot of curses. Kyle Hesson is the District 5 boy who killed Tallulah. "Any District 5 boy in these Games better watch out, because I will murder them in the most brutal way I can."

"Piper?" asked a trainer, a victor, a friend of Piper's, named Elissa. "You okay?"

Piper gritted her teeth. "Miles was an idiot in the elevator."

"I swear, that boy says too much for his own good. He speaks his mind, that's for sure. And he doesn't exactly sensor it. I bet he'll wind up giving his strategy away and he'll be dead pretty close to after the bloodbath."

Piper couldn't help but to smile. "You sound like his mother, and he's older than you!"

"By about 23 days!" retorted Elissa. "You know, I wonder if mentors can pick favorites. You know you'd be mine."

"Haha, thanks. And you probably can't, but with some people, I bet they do. Did you see the amount of sponsors the girl from 8 got in the 95th Hunger Games?" laughed Piper.

"Yeah, you're probably right." grinned Elissa. "But thank goodness there's another mentor to deal with the others! Or else, they'll be murdered pretty quickly!"

"That's reassuring." snorted Piper.

"Why would you care? I'll look after you."

"Again, you sound like a mother. I'm also older than you."

"Whatever. You know, I wasn't sure if they'd let me mentor again, after the issues of last year. It was somewhat disturbing- everyone was expecting me to be one of the best mentors, because of how well I handled myself in the 98th Games, but Derrick wouldn't let me help that much, he thought he could handle it all by himself. Well, we know how that turned out. He contradicted almost everything I said! It was ridiculous!"

"Well, you can't let something like that happen this year. Who's your partner these Games?"

"Well, technically, David'll be, but I'm sure half the others will want to put in their opinions for such a big event." Elissa rolled her eyes. The past victors often came along for the ride, as the Capitol basically worshipped them.

"Well, with a forty-five year old such as himself, you should be all good. The excitement must have died down by now." scoffed Piper.

"And the others?"

"You've got more say than them. I'll listen to you more than anyone else."

"A relief someone'll listen." Elissa grinned. "Hey, you better get changed. Reaping starts in about a half an hour."

"All right." Piper opened her bag and pulled out her Reaping clothes. Since she couldn't stand dresses, she had a pair of khakis and a decent pale blue shirt. "My parents would kill me if they saw that I'm gonna wear this. That's why I decided to get changed here."

"Good choice. I bet they expected you to wear the junk that the Capitolites wear on a daily basis." Elissa grinned.

"Yeah, this is what my mom picked out for me to wear." Piper pulled out a short, deep purple dress with small green bows decorating the neck

"Awkward..." Elissa muttered, wide-eyed. She snatched the dress. "Well, too bad for your mother."

"Yeah." Piper laughed, and went into the bathroom and changed into her clothes. She walked back out. "If I had shorter hair, I could pass off for a boy."

"A less-muscular looking boy, at that." Elissa snorted.

"Whatever." Piper groaned. "Let's go."

Together, they went to the Reaping.

The Peacekeeper behind the table, a woman with a long braid and the white uniform, narrowed her eyes at Piper. "Ahem... do you have anything nicer to wear? You... look like a boy."

"Thank you, I know, and yeah, I do, but I like to make a fashion statement." Piper said. She knew better than to be sarcastic to a Peacekeeper, but she couldn't help it.

The Peacekeeper sighed. "I could punish you right now, but if you are who I think you are, I don't think your parents would thank me. You're somewhat early. Where do you live?"

Elissa covered her mouth with her hand to attempt to stop laughing.

"Just down the road, but my parents have already left. I didn't bring my key."

"Well, you've got about fifteen minutes. Go find your parents and get the key. This isn't the time to be making 'fashion statements', it's just a time to be normal."

Elissa snorted and they turned around. "Well done."

They sprinted down the road and into the Career building, where she ditched her bag- and her dress.

Piper sighed, and changed into her dress and the light purple flats that came along with them and pinched her toes. That was that. They walked more slowly to the Reaping this time, because Piper could barely walk in those shoes, let alone run. When they reached the check-in table again, there was a line forming.

The mayor was running through the line, asking, "Has anyone seen Elissa Whitmore? I've been trying to find her, but she seems to be hiding."

"Dang." muttered Elissa. "Mayor Jackson! I'm right here! I just had to help my friend get ready."

"Oh, good. That was kind of you, Elissa, but you should've been here a half-an-hour ago!" the mayor looked frantic, and then he grabbed Elissa's wrist and pulled her off, leaving Piper alone.

Piper put out her hand for her finger to be pricked for sign-in. It was the lady who had ordered her to change. "Thank you, Miss Clave."

Piper groaned. "Why can't you just treat me normally? You would've punished me if I was anyone else's daughter."

"You are a Career, and if rumor's got it correctly, it would be a shame to lose a valuable tribute in District 2's fight for the crown, and your parents have connections. If I harmed you in any way, I would probably be unemployed before they gave me a chance to defend myself. I happen to like my job."

"Hoorah." Piper grumbled.

"Go in."

Piper marched into the town square and whispered, suddenly giddy, to the girl next to her. "A Peacekeeper is afraid of me."

The girl looked at her like she was crazy and then whispered something to the girl next to her. Piper didn't care. She was used to it. A lot of people already thought she was crazy. That was their problem.

About five minutes later, the escort, Jazzie Hathaway, with a golden-colored wig, and a shimmering golden dress. Gold was, Piper assumed, the color of these Games. "Hello! So glad I can be here to participate in such an event!" she said in her silly Capitol accent, finishing with a giggle. "But of course, before the main event begins, may I introduce your mayor, Mayor Jackson!"

Mayor Jackson hurried onto the stage. He looked a bit frazzled. He ran his hand down his suit to smooth it and began. "Welcome to the 100th Hunger Games Reaping," he began. Then he told the story of what used to be North America. And how Panem was formed.

Then he listed the victors of District 2. District 2 has the most victors- 21 of them- more than a fifth of all that there have been. Five of them are dead. The oldest is the victor of the 27th Hunger Games. He's 92 years old and can't get around without a wheelchair. But even the dead ones were applauded for. Elissa, being District 2's most recent victor, got the loudest round of applause. Piper whooped for her best friend.

"Now, let's invite Jazzie back to the stage and the big part of the Reaping can commence!" he winked and hurried offstage.

Jazzie strutted back onto the stage. The Reaping balls were placed on each side of her. "Well, let's get started!" she giggled. "Ladies first!" she plunged her gold-colored, almost claw-like nails into the girls' ball. She groped around, as if trying to find the best one in there. She plucked one out and called, "Amanda Courtsmith!"

A fourteen-year-old girl bit her lip and very slowly, inched towards the stage. Nobody wasted any time.

"I volunteer!" screamed about five girls at the same time.

Piper took a deep breath and screamed over all of them, "I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!"

The fourteen-year-old girl grinned slyly and squeezed in back between her friends. Piper marched to the front of the crowd and leaped onto the stage.

"Ooh, I love your dress!" squealed Jazzie. "I mean, District 2, your first female tribute! What's your name, dear?"

"Piper Clave." Piper said coolly.

"Give it up for Piper Clave!" Jazzie announced.

The audience went nuts. The Games, especially one so big, was huge in District 2. Anything lesser than going nuts wouldn't have done it. Elissa was screaming and whooping at the top of her lungs.

Jazzie let the cheering die down before calling the next name. Then there was another yelling match, a noise that rang out registering as a slap, and a tall girl with thick brown hair walked up onto the stage. "Sadie Forbes." she said before Jazzie could ask.

The audience went even crazier. Fighting for volunteers was also something very exciting- and the excitement was so great for such things this wasn't an uncommon, thing, fighting over who gets to volunteer. Many stage it for attention, and interest in Capitol sponsors. Of course, this mainly happens in District 2. District 1 does it somewhat less than 2, and 4, the most mild of the Career Districts, doesn't do it that much.

This time, Jazzie just took a name from the top. "Kayla Dolan!"

Before anyone could volunteer, a voice screeched, "DON'T ANY OF YOU DARE!" a sixteen-year-old girl with light brown hair and freckles shouldered her way through the crowd.

"Welcome, Kayla!" Jazzie chirped.

The crowd cheered.

The next name was called, the name of a seventeen-year-old girl who looked somewhat repulsed to have been called, then was replaced by the girl who had looked at Piper like she was crazy. Her name was Melanie Redwall.

Then Jazzie moved onto the boys. "Aaron-" They didn't give her a chance to say the whole name before a wrestling match of some sort broke out and Alexander Mason, who was very friendly with Piper and once had one of his own friends killed in the Games, stepped onto the stage.

A young boy, age thirteen, was called up next, and Miles yelled, "I bolunteer!" his nose was bandaged, and then Piper felt slight guilt.

Then two more boys were Reaped, both replaced by volunteers. "Well, give it up for District 2's eight tributes in the 100th Hunger Games!" Jazzie cried.

The audience was crazier than ever.

The Peacekeepers, including the woman who had signed Piper in, formed a circle around them, and they marched into the Justice Building.

Piper was put into a room with a comfortable velvet chair. She ran her finger along the upholstery until her parents and Leo turned up.

"Hey, sis. Knock 'em dead!" was what Leo first said.

Piper snorted. "I plan to. Literally."

"Oh, I was so pleased with Jazzie's reaction about your dress. If she asks, I got it for you at a little boutique near City Circle." Piper's mom said excitedly.

"You will win. I know it." her dad said.

Leo held out his hand. In that was a seashell bracelet- something she had been given from Tallulah when she was six, on her second visit. "So you'll always know what you're fighting for." he said.

Piper smiled. "Thanks, Leo." besides her friends, Leo was the one who really knew how much the Games would mean to her. Leo opened his arms and Piper didn't hesitate to go into them. Her 21-year-old brother, was always there for her. She really hoped that she could manage to go through the Games, kill four boys, be named victor, and get back to him. And of course, her parents and her friends. But mostly Leo. He was a great brother.

Her parents joined in on the hug and they stayed that way until the Peacekeepers took them out and her friends came in. They said that they hoped she would win, that they would have another victor in their circle of friends, but of course, there was emotional moments and they had a group hug.

Then the Peacekeepers took them out and rounded up the tributes and took them to the train station. As soon as they boarded, they left.

Although Piper wasn't new at the train thing and saying good-bye to District 2, she stared out the window, wondering if this would be the last time she ever said good-bye.

She couldn't help it. A tear rolled her down her cheek. She looked at Elissa. "I don't want to die." she mumbled.

Elissa stared at her with a strange intensity in her eyes. "I am entrusted with your life. You will make it home, no matter what I have to do for that to happen."

Piper prayed that this would be true.


Please R&R! :)

-Oh, and if you've read my other HG story, I'm still willing to have someone adopt it...